Team America World Time Attack – ARK Design’s BNR32 Skyline GT-R Part 9

We could either run a new wheel with a massively negative offset or run the wheel spacer. To be able to run the same wheels all around, we opted for the spacer. An all new subframe, rear end, and double A-arm suspension are in the idea stage right now and will likely be completed and tested before WTAC 2013. The 18 x 11″ Volk Racing RE30 Club Sports intended for R35 GT-R fitment were the natural choice. It all worked out since Eddie at Mackin Industries had several sets in stock and we needed several sets of lightweight and strong wheels. Mounted on the wheels are a set of 275/35/18 Hankook Z-214 C91 that we would have used for our shakedown test. The Z-214s aren't legal for WTAC use, but at the time the Hankook Ventus TDs were not available in the US yet.

Things were getting busy with three or four guys working on the front, two on the inside, two underneath, and another at the back. Here Chris from KW was setting the ride height and measuring the splitter ground clearance on the left, Gary had just mounted the front splitter, and David from Stoptech (by day) and Bridges Racing (by night) was working on the intercooler ducting.

Here Gary test fits the front diffusers (or whatever they're called) after fabrication. He made several different angles so that we could swap them at the track for testing. Don't ask me how it all worked out. Gary has all kinds of pieces that somehow fit on to the car.

With the windows, the wheels, and the front height set (the rear was not finalized yet), the car was starting come together…on the outside at least. The car was going to get completely wrapped at Motographics in Sydney upon arrival. Since the car never arrived in Sydney, it still remains these colors today. But when it rolls out of the container at Sydney in 2013, there will be no blue in sight.

At this point, the long hours were starting to wear us down. Gary and I were the ones almost living at the shop. The last several days were pretty painful. Here Gary takes a breather underneath the car while he was working on the steering. Gary came up with a very innovative idea for the steering so we're pretty excited about seeing it in action.

Here's the Greddy intercooler assembly that uses a Spec R size 32 core. The core measures 600L x 258H x 115D or 23.6″ long x 10.2″ tall x 4.5 thick. I've always liked using Greddy Spec R cores because they offer a good compromise of inner fin density, tube wall thickness, and ambient flow. In fact, the intercooler cores I designed back in the XS Engineering days targeted the performance of a Greddy Spec R core. Many of today's stacked plate intercoolers are really just heat sinks rather than intercoolers. The walls of the stacked plate “tubes” are so thick, it would be unreasonable to expect them to actually transfer much heat. Instead most of today's stacked plate intercoolers mostly just absorb heat. The tube and fin intercooler is a rare animal these days since they require a lot of specialized tooling, skilled workers, and more attention to detail during the brazing process.